Nice chapter with beautiful jobs on both Ron and Draco (if they can spread the "Draco is Gay" meme fast and far enough, the ponce will never develop any position of power, his father notwithstanding). I do like and appreciate the way he's bonded with Hermione and Neville and I quite expect the three of them to form a much better trio than Harry, Hermione, and Ron. This Ron definitely has a worse attitude problem than canon!Ron and 'twill be interesting to see what it gets him (I could see him, despite all protestations, getting sorted in Slytherin). He's redeemable, but it's going to take some heavy-duty events to do so.
Author's response
oh yes, Malfoy is going to have a lot of trouble in Slytherin House.
Harry is definitely going to have a better "Golden Trio" dynamic with Neville and Hermione instead of Ron and Hermione this time around.